


You're Safe And I Am Too

by Boff_Puds



Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Angst and Feels, Established Relationship, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Post-War
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-30
Updated: 2020-07-30
Packaged: 2021-03-05 19:20:41
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,090
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25610479
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Boff_Puds/pseuds/Boff_Puds
Summary: Zuko comes to terms with the fact that he isn't a burden and Sokka will be there to tell him as many times as it takes.
Relationships: Sokka/Zuko (Avatar)
Comments: 4
Kudos: 162





	You're Safe And I Am Too

Zuko found himself in a place that had become very familiar to him as of late. the angi kai arena. he felt a deep gut-wrenching fear course through his body. he knew what happened next. he had seen it again and again for so many nights. he was on his knees, pleading with his father. tears streamed down his face, he knew it would do nothing to save him from the pain that was to come. but then something happened that was different.

suddenly he wasn't on the ground, kneeling in front of his father. he was in the stands, surrounded by a jeering crowd. he looked up in confusion, did he get away this time? but that hope was ripped away from him as he saw who had taken his place. Sokka.

the fear he had felt before paled in comparison to this. he saw his father raise his hand, lighting an angry red flame. he struggled to escape but the crowd was holding him back. he wasn't strong enough. he wasn't fast enough. he yelled in rage and pain. he could deal with reliving that night, but to see someone else in his place was a new kind of horrifying.

his father's hand came down on Sokka's face. his cries of pain were too much for Zuko. he struggled and he wrestled with the people holding him back. he tried to firebend. he tried to wrench free. but he couldn't escape. he couldn't save Sokka. he was too weak and too far away.

Sokka convulsed in pain, no longer crying out, and slumped onto his side. a small trail of smoke drifting up from his unmoving form. Zuko collapsed. the crowd behind him dissapeared. his father dissapeared. leaving him alone in the arena with what used to be Sokka. tears flooded his eyes and dripped down his cheeks. he wasn't fast enough. he wasn't strong enough. he wasn't... enough. Sokka was dead and it was his fault. he had never deserved this. Zuko should have tried harder, he should have been able to save him. but now it was too late.

he dragged himself up from the floor and onto the raised platform. he stumbled towards Sokka, but not before the earth opened and swallowed him, leaving only a smoking outline and a puddle of blood.

no.. no! no nO NO NO NONONO

Zuko clenched his sides and shuddered. he would have taken any amount of pain over this. he should have been where Sokka was now. dead and alone beneath the earth.

his hands heated and he had to rip them away from his sides.

Sokka is dead.

it's your fault.

you could have saved him.

it should have been you.

you're a burden to him.

you put him in danger, all for your selfish reasons.

why should a person like you ever be worthy of someone like Sokka?

he doesn't want you here.

his shoulders shuddered and he felt all of these thoughts pressing down on him from above, constricting his arms and pushing into his back. he started breathing harder and faster and panic replaced the sorrow. distantly he heard a voice. it sounded like Sokka but he was dead. Sokka was dead and it was his fault. the voice kept getting louder. it was definitely Sokka. was he going crazy? he watched his father kill him.

"-have to wake up. it's okay. i'm here. you're safe." Zuko's eyes snapped open. he could hear Sokka behind him, saying soothing words, trying to get him to calm down. he was okay. he was alive and breathing. it had just been a dream.

but Zuko's breaths were still gasping and raggedy. Sokka's arms held him close.

"you're safe baby it's okay. I'm here. you're okay. just breathe."

Zuko looked around. he wasn't in the arena. the cold stone was replaced with a soft mattress. the sheets were crumpled at the end of the bed where he had kicked them away. Sokka was pressing his chest against Zuko's shuddering back, talking to him slowly with his forehead resting on Zuko's shoulder.

Zuko turned around in Sokka's arms ans gripped him tight, listening to his heartbeat. Sokka was alive. he was breathing. he was okay.

he let out a trembling sigh of relief. his fiance's hand stroking his hair.

they lay like that for a few moments before Sokka drew back an inch or two to look into Zuko's eyes. they were red rimmed and still streaming with tears.

"do you want to talk about it?"

a few beats of silence then.. "I was back in the arena..." Sokka felt his heart squeeze. he knew that Zuko had nightmares about that night, but they had never been this bad. he wished he could help him more than just holding him while he cried.

"but... it wasn't me standing there..." Zuko's breath hitched, "it was you. and i couldn't save you. he killed you and it was all my fault because i wasn't fast enough-" his shoulders heaved and he started hyperventilating again. Sokka held him closer, trying not to constrict his chest.

"baby i'm here. i'm safe. just breathe. it was just a dream. I'm okay." Zuko gripped the back of his shirt, "it wasn't your fault. you couldn't do anything about it. it's okay. I'll be here with you. I'm not going anywhere. you're so strong. you could never be a burden you know that?" silence. Sokka pulled back again to look at Zuko, "you know that, right?" golden eyes lowered.

"Zuko.. baby..." he brushed the firebender's hair away from his face. "you have given me more joy than I can possibly describe. you're so strong, and smart, and selfless. I can't understand how you don't see that.. it hurts me more than you know when you say that you aren't enough. I wouldn't ask to marry you if I didn't mean it. you are not a burden. if anything, i wish you would let me help you more often. i have loved you more than i have ever loved anyone before." Zuko's eyes filled with tears, but these were a different kind. he smiled a little unsteadily and pressed a kiss to Sokka's lips.

"I love you."

"I love you too. and don't you ever forget it" Sokka jabbed his finger into his chest. one that was starting to slow it's rise and fall.

their lips met again. a pale back met a darker-skinned chest and the two drifted back to sleep tangled in each other's limbs.


End file.
